Sarah Harmer at Sydenham United Church

I wasn't sure what to expect from the show because it was Sarah and her new acoustic band, she had just released a more bluegrass, folky album called I am a Mountain, and, well, it was in a church. I've been in many churches in my lifetime for various reasons (never for confessions as I have never done anything not virtuous in my life) but I had never been there for a concert. I imagined that the acoustics would be good but I didn't know how the seating would be. Would it feel like a wedding or like mass? Or neither. The Sydenham United Church has a semi-circular arrangement so that everyone had a great view of the musicians. There was even room for fans to sit down in front of the band and for toddlers to explore. The acoustics were nice and crisp and Sarah was in good form. She played a nice mix of songs from all her albums. Accompanied by Jason Euringer on the Standing Bass, Spencer Evans on clarinet/accordion/piano, Julie Fader on vocals and Keyboard, as well as other musicians on guitar/mandolin and a violinist whose name escapes me (my apologies), the band clearly enjoyed playing with each other and Sarah threw them for a loop a couple of times by choosing to play songs that were not on the setlist. That spontaneity really gave the show an intimate feel. On top of the songs from her albums, Sarah also covered a Shins tune and a John Hiatt tunes and gave it her own treatment.

The only thing to reproach Sarah was how long it took her to play Lodestar, which I believe is the best song that has ever been composed, by ANYONE (including Nena). In fact, I'm pretty sure that if it weren't for my friend Gregg Day requesting her to play "Lodestar for Tuan Bui", we might not have been blessed by this song. But she delivered and we were appeased. Gregg Day, by the way, is happily married to Larissa and that song has no autobiographical meaning between the both of us. Just thought I'd clear that up.

In the end, what impressed me most about the show was how much fun Sarah was having and the audience was clearly aglow from the show.

Jill Barber concert review

Jill Barber played last night at the Grad Club. She remarked that for the last year or so, she doesn't recognize any familiar faces when she plays in Kingston. It has been 3 years since she left Queen's and probably a lot of her friends have left for new adventures. Last time I saw her was at the Common Ground for a coffeehouse series, the first year they were open, some x years ago. Funny how I too didn't see any faces from the Common Ground show at last night's gig either. Ouch, I felt a wrinkle just pop up on my face.

Jill played solo and brought along her new axe, the Tennessee Rose. I think that if Jill Barber is going to get an electric guitar, the only name it could have has to be Tennessee Rose. Fits to a tee. Despite the presence of an electric guitar, Jill still delivered a nice, charming, understated set that has been her trademark. Though sometimes one would like to see her rock out, head banging and guitar struttin on the stage, just to satisfy some inner curiosity, there's something really enjoyable about a stripped-down, well grounded performance. She played a mix of old songs from her previous two albums and previewed a couple of new songs. I was curious to see how she would translate songs from Oh Heart without having the Cabaret undertones due to the absence of the piano but she pulled them off well. I wished she had played more songs from A note to follow so but I'm selfish that way. And I appreciate her efforts to get something out of the crowd but in my limited concertgoing experience, I find that Kingston crowds are very shy and willing to just soak in the music. Maybe they should spike the punch at the Grad Club

I'm actually not the biggest fan of live music because I have bad hearing (yes, music lover has bad hearing, oh the irony, well ask Beethoven about it!) and I usually can't discern vocals. And since I can't hear the vocals, I try to talk to my mates but we usually can't hear each other so the whole night is spent just standing at a show pretending to enjoy it. That's why I really enjoy shows from troubadours such as Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, and Jill, where you can hear them reveal themselves to you, one earnest word at a time.

P.S.: Hate to end it on a negative note, but if you're going to be taking pictures at a show and you have one of those damn fancy cameras that projects a grid of red lines onto the target, take a couple of pictures and end it! Half the time I thought Jill had paper cuts all over her face and body.